Stats can sometimes be deceiving. I check all the NCAA stats every week including the box scores because sometimes you have to look a little deeper. For instance, last week Okie St allowed La Laf 34 points. If you check the official NCAA stats you will find OSU ranked #82 in scoring defense for that reason. However, 2 of those TD’s came by way of int’s by LLAF which were returned for TD’s. So in effect the OSU defense only allowed 20 points which would have ranked them #54. Those int returns go against the OSU defense for whatever reasons.
By the same token if you look at the NCAA stats LLAF’s offense gets credited (in effect) conversely and those stats rate them #51 in scoring offense with 34 ppg (1 game only played). If you think about it those stats are misleading. How often is LLAF going to score 14 points in a game by returning int’s for TD’s and in fact you “assume” their offense accounted for those points. I am sure the same thing applies to KO returns, punt returns, fumble returns for TD’s.
My point is that although in fact LLAF scored 34 points as a team their offense did not account for those points and they are categorized under Scoring Offense. By the same token the OSU defense did not allow all of those 34 points either. Many games have similar circumstances. These things level out deeper into the season but they are only relatively accurate. The totals listed under Scoring Offense and Scoring Defense are accurate in that they tell you how many teampoints were scored and allowed respectively but they do not break them down as to how the points were scored.
It pays to check box scores and scoring summaries to get the complete story behind the numbers.
By the same token if you look at the NCAA stats LLAF’s offense gets credited (in effect) conversely and those stats rate them #51 in scoring offense with 34 ppg (1 game only played). If you think about it those stats are misleading. How often is LLAF going to score 14 points in a game by returning int’s for TD’s and in fact you “assume” their offense accounted for those points. I am sure the same thing applies to KO returns, punt returns, fumble returns for TD’s.
My point is that although in fact LLAF scored 34 points as a team their offense did not account for those points and they are categorized under Scoring Offense. By the same token the OSU defense did not allow all of those 34 points either. Many games have similar circumstances. These things level out deeper into the season but they are only relatively accurate. The totals listed under Scoring Offense and Scoring Defense are accurate in that they tell you how many teampoints were scored and allowed respectively but they do not break them down as to how the points were scored.
It pays to check box scores and scoring summaries to get the complete story behind the numbers.
